Integrate Social Media into Your Content Marketing Plan in 8 Easy Steps

Integrate Social Media into Your Content Marketing Plan in 8 Easy Steps

How does social media stack up with your content marketing plan? Are you getting the return on investment (ROI) of your content marketing efforts? How can you use social media to complement your content marketing strategy? We will address those questions in a moment.

However, as a content marketer, you know that creating a compelling content piece is only half the puzzle. The other part is getting it into the hands of your ideal readers at the right time and at where they are. Social media is the primary area or platform where you can find your readers.

Moreover, not only is social media an incredible marketing channel where you can find your target audience, but it also serves as one of the best content distribution channels. That is why they say, content marketing and social media are like banana and peanut butter; they overlap.

Yes, they hang together and compliment each other in the sense that social media needs content to thrive. On the other hand, content requires social media in two primary content marketing proceedings:

However, although social media is the quickest way to distribute content after creation, You cannot start posting randomly on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn. There are best practices you need to follow to enable you to gain traction and increase engagement on your site.

In light of this, we have assembled top marketing tips that will make your marketing efforts a success by integrating social media into your content marketing plan. Enjoy!

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Why is that important? It is vital that you optimize your content for each social networking site because every social media site has its strengths and weaknesses. It means that what works for Twitter may not work for Instagram.

And a content that gained traction on Facebook may not drive engagement on LinkedIn. For example, you can post 20+ tweets on Twitter per day; but on Instagram or Facebook, the frequency is different. You can post only once or twice at most for optimal engagement.

Moreover, Twitter is a fast-paced social media networking site; meaning that things are happening very quickly on the platform. In view of this, if you’re not checking your Twitter feed regularly and at the right time, you might miss out on vital tweets from your competitors.

You can say the same thing about your target audience. Nonetheless, it is a different playing field on Facebook because the social media powerhouse has a more static nature. The characteristics of Facebook allows users to converse and build interactions for a more extended period.

These interactions let users share valuable information and build a community of niche marketers. Hence, it makes sense to optimize your content according to the needs of each social media platform. This step will amplify your content marketing plan for optimal results.

As stated in the preceding section, timing is essential for your content marketing success on social media. If your content marketing plan doesn’t include sharing content at the right time on social media, you will be left behind because your target buyer will not see and interact with your posts. So time is paramount, as well as the frequency of posting.

Now I know what you’re thinking;

As each social site has a different domain, every one of them has a unique posting time to help increase engagement. But you have to find the best spots for each platform.

For instance, several users would check their social media feeds in the early hours of the morning before 9:00 am. Other would peek at their feeds during their lunch break from noon. And still, others will check their feeds from 5:00 pm after work.

As a result, posting to social media at optimal times correlates to the success of your content marketing strategy. You can use Google Analytics or any social media analytics tool that works for you to calculate your metrics and define the best times to post.

Despite that, here is what we got according to expert research. The best times to post on LinkedIn is between 10:00 am and 11:00 am on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. But, some experts suggest that sharing your content from 4:00 to 6:00 pm works best for LinkedIn.

In addition, the best times to post on Instagram is during a lunch break from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm, and from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm after working hours. Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays account for the most engagement.

For Facebook, it is during working hours from 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm during work hours. And the best days are on Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Please, note that your results may differ depending on your geo-location and your audience’s location.

That is why is it crucial to define your target audience; where they are from, and when they are most likely online. The data will give a general idea for the best times of day to share content across social media channels.

Your blog is your online space where you interact with your readers and offer helpful information via blog content. But how can you keep up to date or with trending topics and provide valuable information that interests your ideal readers?

Follow these simple yet powerful blogging tips for a successful content marketing campaign:

These tactics will help you to know what is working in your industry and what is not working. It will also offer you a framework to strategize a successful content marketing plan.

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Social media best practices include posing 20% of your post and sharing 80% of curate content. However, at the social media marketing world 13 (SMMW13), Brian Carter offers a fantastic social media posting strategy.

He advised marketers to post 50% of curated content, 20% of promotional materials, and 30% of original or owned content. This strategy will help you to maintain a balance of not being too salesy, and at the same time, engage your audience with a blend of original materials and curated content pieces.

Content curation enables you to offer users a personalized selection of the best-examined materials; and the most relevant content pieces and resources on a particular topic. It makes your audiences’ social media feed looks more attractive.

As a content marketer who is using social media marketing to boost return on investment, you cannot achieve success if your content and social media marketing techniques do not include marketing automation.

You need social media marketing tools to help you schedule content for posting at the right time of day. Consequently, some of the best tools in the market are:

Not only will these tools help you post at the best times and streamline your marketing activities, but they will also assist you to be active and consistent. And as you may already know, consistency is an excellent quality that will help you to boost your brand visibility and build trust with your audience and prospective customers.

Instagram has become the go-to for marketers as recent analysis show. The report reveals that:

The stats show that your small business should have a presence on Instagram. Why? Because the research also shows that 83% 0f respondents say seeing a product on a friends’ Instagram feed influences their buying decision.

Furthermore, users who visit your site from Instagram stay an average of 192 seconds longer than those from any other social media channel.

However, without a considerable following, you have no business. Thus, growing your Instagram followers is the starting point to a successful Instagram marketing strategy.

It means that without a following, no one will interact with your content or engage with your brand on the social media site. Understandably, users will follow you if they are interested in your brand or what you’re offering. Please, consider the following stats.

According to search engine journal, 62% of consumers will follow a brand on social media to learn about sales offerings; while 60% of users will stalk a business to keep up to date with new products.

Hence, there are several ways to grow your followers on Instagram, but the fastest is to use Instagram tools. The best tools in the market come with advanced targeting elements that will assist you in growing your followers faster; that is, based on the targets you set.

The targets could be relevant hashtags or your competitors’ profiles. As a result, even though there are several tools for this purpose, I recommend Instazood. I have used it (the Instagram followers bot); it is one of the best in the market.

The tool will help you to automate and simplify your Instagram followers growth and still maintain Instagram’s policy and terms of use.

Here is how it works; The Instagram bot for followers and engagement will study your target followers who are already following your competitors, interact with them, and draw them to your profile to engage with your posts. This process makes it easier to grow your followers faster.

Instazood works so effectively that it lets you gain free Instagram followers. You can conveniently schedule the software to carry out different marketing activities that will invite your target audience to follow you. The tool will:

The beauty of this Instagram bot is that it offers you a platform to promote your business. How? By notifying your target buyer of special offers. For example, you can use the automatic direct messaging feature to send notifications of new products, discounted goods, coupons, etc.

Moreover, you have the option to include calls-to-action to you messages to guide users to your landing page, where you can convert them to leads and customers. As a result, it will not only grow your followers and increase engagement; it will improve sales significantly.

Social media is where you meet your followers, clients, and future customers, share content and have engaging conversations. Such interactions are ideal because they ‘ll help you to figure out how your target followers feel about your brand.

From the discussions, you’ll get useful feedback that will enable you to create content that connects with your target market. In view of this, the best way to get to the minds of your buyer persona and draw out valuable information or feedback is to be cautious and creative.

By engaging in these activities, you will obtain helpful information that will aid you to create terrific online content your audience wants to read. Thus, compliment your content marketing plan.

Social media marketing provides marketers an avenue to communicate with their target audience, consumers, and future customer in a more personal degree. And it also offers you a platform to develop your brand and grow your business.

Thus, communication is vital for social media marketing because it will help you to;

The beauty of using social media in your content marketing strategy is that it allows users to access information and communicate with a brand quickly. This process lets you enhance your brand visibility via relationship building with your target buyer.

But, some marketers are doing it all wrong; they are not communicating with prospects, and it can cost you money. Interaction is a two-way traffic that needs responses from both parties.

In consequence, if you are in the habit of not responding to users comments, it is never too late. Start interacting with your followers, customers, and eventual customers. Use your observations to nurture them into qualified leads and paying customers.

For instance, if you post terrific content, your target followers will comment on it and perhaps ask questions. Reply to their comments, thank them for commenting, and offer a solution to their queries.

Moreover, those who are asking questions and interacting with your posts are already interested in your brand. In light of this, by replying to them and providing answers to any questions they have, you are nurturing them to leads and paying customers.

As you can see, there are several ways to incorporate social media into your content marketing efforts. However, The eight tips presented here are surefire ways that will help you to improve the return on investment (ROI) of your content marketing plan.

The tips are easy to apply and yet efficient. Therefore, use them to your marketing processes, test your results to find the best spot. Nevertheless, your comments and suggestions will be highly appreciated.

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